Team size: Twelve

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

The main challenge we faced, in 2022, was to keep our supply chain unscathed to guarantee the sustainability of our mining operations, affected by international and national events that once again tested our ability to adapt to these unpredictable contexts. 2022 began extremely challenging, in February, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that convulsed the world economy, mainly affected the procurement of equipment imports for the expansion of our operations, as well as the new mining projects in the portfolio, taking value, once again, the fortuitous event and force majeure clauses for the contracted goods and new contracts, the time factor became unpredictable, both translating into risk scenarios of cost overruns and rescheduling of activities that would impact the planning approved in 2021 to group level in Morocco.

Likewise, at the local level, the rise in the price of oil, wheat and cereals, generated an impact on the cost of electricity generation, costs related to transportation services, and food. However, AMG Peru belongs to an international group listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, with operational presence in Europe (France and French Guyana), Africa (Morocco and Congo) and America (Colombia and Peru). This strength helped the interaction and contractual logistics synergy in AMG Group mitigates the impact on the acquisition schedule and the high cost overrun of the 2022 budget, moving our expansions and projects away from critical routes, an aggressive plan for awareness and control of the efficient use of oil was drawn up locally, initiating experiences of use of other means of electricity generation such as solar.

The internal event that put our supply chain to the test was the political crisis (coup) in December 2022, generated by former President Castillo, which had a sustained impact in the southern part of our country, translated into intermittent road blockades in the Ica, Arequipa, Cusco and Puno regions, jurisdictions in which our operations are located (Arequipa and Cusco) and whose transit of our supplies and suppliers is mandatory (Ica), as well as the delivery of our mineral concentrates (Lima and Arequipa) to our traders. AMG Peru reinforced its purchasing strategy from local suppliers (Cusco and Arequipa) who took on the challenge, to boost their inventories and be able to sustain their operations in the face of the prolongation of measures of force and political uncertainty due to the installation of the new president, likewise, AMG was one of the few companies that presented a constitutional guarantee (habeas corpus) to the Peruvian State to guarantee free transit on the communication routes of the aforementioned regions. The exposed actions made possible the minimum variance to our supply chain, between what was programmed for the procurement schedules and new acquisitions, as well as, at the national level, political events and their escalation of violence did not affect our operations located in the southern mining corridor of Peru.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

Technological advances are a constant in humanity, and therefore in all professional practice, in the legal field we have witnessed that the world of the office has been abruptly repealed by the pandemic, giving way to virtuality, technology coming into force. existing ones that due to bias, at the time, were not accepted in our daily work, being accepted by the law and the legal community as tools that support our work, to date, it is natural that applications register virtual general shareholders meetings with the participation of shareholders residing in any latitude of the globe, as well as virtual conciliation or negotiation hearings, work meetings with common translation options, the transparency of information has been strengthened by digitization that allows authorities and private have the information in a timely manner, not to mention the virtual party tables and their working hours, the implementation of the virtual notification system, the regulatory and precedent search engines.

Given the above, I ratify my conviction that technological advances are an opportunity for improvement for every lawyer and our ability to adapt will be constantly tested, its correct use will channel in their favour, and consequently, legal teams will have information timely and of quality, granting us “time”, a scarce resource that allows us to design and implement innovative and creative legal strategies in the face of the innumerable queries or situations that require pertinent legal advice, technology should not be conceived only for control but as a tool that allows minimize the conventional times for innovation and creativity of lawyers.

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why?

Every industry, and especially the mining industry that is supported by foreign investment, considers the legal and political stability of a country an important cause for its sustainable development. My concern as a cause related to the mining business that makes me give it high degrees of importance lies in the failed attempts to try to transgress the rule of law, we have witnessed that the country’s institutions have considered political instability, if the rules for the industry are clear and are respected, they generate an environment of international trust, even more so if the powers of the State and its democratic institutions act independently and in faithful respect for fundamental rights and the Law, otherwise free will could be channelled into the abuse of power and rights that puts the mining industry at risk. Another point, and no less important, lies in permits, which had a great take-off in the 2000-2010 decade, from then on, many good regulatory intentions were added that became the norm, generating excessive regulation that must be reviewed to promote our industry, approached with a social approach that allows our direct and indirect social actors to feel part of this reform in favour of sustainable development.